Supporting frame for electric lines



G. J. DARRIEUS 1727,81]

Sept. 10, "1929.

SUPPORTING FRAME FOR ELECTRIC LINES Filed Oct. 16, 1924 Patented it), 1929.

i l i llilhl'l' OFFICE.

GEORGES JEAN DARBIEUS, F PARKS, FRANCE, ASFZG-NOZ'L T0 CGMPAGITIE ELECTRO- MECANLQUE, U35 PARKS, CE.

SUPPORTIEG FRAME ELECTRIC LINES.

Application filed @ctober 16, 1924, Serial No. 244,647, and in France November 5, 1823.

The supporting devices for overhead electo pro *ide the inter nediate supports with trio lines are as a rule composed, for a joint horizontal at the level of the ground, given line, of two classes: in such manner that they can turn around (i) The major part of such devices, eman axis at right angles to the line and to ployed in the portions which are approrliprovide on the other hand a mechanical con- 55 mately in alignment comprises supports nection between the tops of these supports adapted solely to maintain the electric line by means or the earth-wire, suitably and to withstand the transverse stresses due str ned for this purpose. to the wind and also adopted in most cases object of the present invention is an to withstand the accidental rupture of a wire 1 te supporting frame for electric 60 on one the adjacent spans. l; whose functions are strictly limited to (2) Supports of a stronger nature, termed "'ie r. o essential functions of supporting the main or ichoring supports, which are line withstanding the transverse stresses, spaced at suitable distances and oh lv themes the main or anchoring towers asthe points where the line changes its directhe work of maintaining the whole of tion. these being so constructed as to withline in stable equilibrium in the long'h stand stresses due to the total rupture o'l tudinal direction. the wires upon any one side. El further object of this invention is an By reason of the necessity of provid rj overhear electric line tie intermediate supsupports or towers of the curre t types 1.. ports of which have the aroresaid structure, order to withsxn d in all ClllGCilGilS a 1110- whereas the main or anchorine' towers are cent of flexion e1 rcised at the of any known type, but may also be built increasing rapidly with the height, it is by completing the structure ot the said inhe usual practice to increase the moment of .ediate supports with suitable connecinertia i. e. the area of the base in proport to anchors in the ground in the directions which although admissible for outlyl of the line inn; regions. would occasion seri objiec- Ev designing; and using); the structure of tioi s in regi which the value of cultithe in; i ediate supporting frames accordvoted land is much g eater. 0 tie present invention, it must be kept A. known for i ducing the area of that said supports may be main- $0 the ease of such tovers, and or igihtening' V upright only by the weight of the them at the t' consists in t use itself. ren in the case where the latter e of towers of the soi l supported through the flexible means possess a great ri ity in the direction or? suspended insulator chains; this is a very 35 transversal to that or the line but are susnew and essential feature oi the proposed 3 ceptible of tlcxion in the lengthwise direcstructure. tion in case of rupture of. ti. wires, thus in order to attain the above mentioned partially avoidi' c the eiiect of toe moment performances. it is suiiiciont that these interor flexion in virtue of the m diate supports be free to move around an 40 the tension of the line which is occasioned axis which is approXii-nately at right angles by their distertio with the transmission line and which is inimit the Qi QQ JlX GBQSS of this method lin" clinerh say in the transverse direction paralitel to the case of relatively short spans, lel to the formation of the ground when the vhich a small. displacement ot. the top of line has to pass over or mount the top of 45 the tower will cause an augmentation of the a hill or the ridge of a boulder. The said and an appreciable reduction in the tendegree o freedom to move may be carried sion of the wires which are not yet broken. out by means of any joint whatsoever at a It has already been proposed, for transsufiicient height under the level of the conmission lines provided with a steel earthductors. In the examples hereinafter dewire attached to the top oi the girder poles scribed, such articulation is obtained by means of ball and socket joints at the lower extremity of the two legs or uprigl'its.

The first condition to be realized is that the whole arrangement comprised between two main towers and consisting of u spans of equal length and n supports or towers of the pivoted type, shall be stable, i. e. that when the system is brought out of its position of equilibrium in any manner it will always tend to resume the normal position in which all the supports are vertical. It is shown by calculation that for the usual weights of the supports and lines, this condition can be readily complied with, and it will allow of inserting between any two main towers a considerable number of the said supports.

According to the second condition, which is of a more restricting nature, when the wind blows in the direction of the line, firstly, the additional stress upon the wires due to the effect of traction occasioned upon said wires by the towers when acted upon by the wind, must not exceed the limits which correspond to the admited coeiiicient of safety, and for which the main towe are normally constructed; and secondly, the augmentation of the sag which is occasioned, in the spans placed leeward by the inclined position assumed by the supports, must not cause the wire to descend below the level stipulated by the regulations.

A third condition may also be taken into account, wherein the supports may for example withstand the rupture of a wire upon one side alone. But while this accident produces in the normal tower a moment of flexion increasing with the height and also a moment of torison, only this latter will prevail in the said support or frame, and is independent of the height, so that such supports can be made much lighter.

But according to the present invention it is possible to go still further and also, in opposition to the known structures, to eliminate even this moment of torsion by dispensing with the provision of any resistance to this kind of effort, that is to say by providing the support with new internal articulations which give to the support at least a supplementary degree of freedom to move, and allow the whole structure, not only to incline itself in the direction of the line about a straight line connecting the feet of the uprights, but also to turn about the vertical axis of symmetry of the support. As the relative movements which are permitted by said degrees of freedom to move appear between the several elements of the frame structure itself, these degrees of freedom to move are called internal degrees of freedom to move.

In this manner, the intermediate sup-- ports can be made very light, inasmuch as the essential parts thereof are subjected solely to traction and compression stress, whilst the masonry of the foundation as a whole is not subjected to any moment tending to overthrow it, but solely to normal strains, and hence its size can be reduced to a minimum.

Due to the smaller size of the supports or frames, these latter can be secured in the foundation with greater facility and the number of such supports can be reduced, since the most economical value of the span will be increased from the fact that the weight of this type of support or frame will increase ess rapidly in relation to the height than for the sual supports.

its concerns the main or anchoriu towers, these may (1) be employed without any difference from the known types, even in size, or in a more simple manner, they may consist of frames of the same type as the intermediate supports, but suitably braced in the direction of the line by strain w res or cables which are connected to anchors in the ground.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawings show by way of examples several embodiments of the invention, which obviously may also be realized in very numerous different forms without departing out of the scope of said invention.

Especially it is immaterial that the lines, are borne on pin type insulators or hang on insulator chains.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of the invention in the case of an electric three phase transmission line hanging on insulator chains for very high voltage: Fig. l is a front view of the frame structure, Fig. 2 a side-view from the left side of the same.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a section of an electric monophase transmission line hanging on insulator chains and provided with supporting frame according to the invention.

With reference to F 1 and 2 the uprights M M which are pivoted at the ground level by means of ball-and-socket joints F and F to the masonry foundations, support at their upper part (by means of the joints R, R the crosspiece T to which are attached the several insulators. The trapezoid thus formed is braced transversally by the tie-rods or cables H and H In the form above described, the said support is not only free to assume an inclination in the longitudinal direction, but on the other hand it offers no esistance to the torsional stresses occasioned by the rupture of a wire and tending to distort it.

The stability of the crosspiece T upon its pivots R, B, may be obtained by suitably attaching the said tie rods H H as illustrated by the dotted lines in F 2; or by replacing one of the said ball joints, say 1%,, by a pivot joint (hinge) R R,, (between lllfi brackets in Figs. 1 and 2), operating in only one direction and allowing only a rotation on an axis parallel to the line.

If with this facility of distortion, whereby the minimum weight can be obviously obtained, there is danger that excessive strains shall be brought upon the central wir in the event of rupture of one of the lateral wires should the line for example not be provided with an earth connection, the said support can be stiffened against torsional stresses, by doubling each of the guy ropes or wires H H as shown by dot and dash lines in Fig. 2, and by inserting between the two pairs of tie rods whose crossing points C and C are projecting themselves at C 1), a link C C parallel to the line as shown in the side-view, Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 5 of the drawings, the section of the electric transmission line comprises for example three consecutive spans between two suitably fastened anchor-sup ports P P The two intermediate supports S, S devoid of guy ropes and articulated at or near the level of the ground, are maintained in equilibrium only by the return of the pendulums formed by the insulator chains subjected to the weight of the line; these supports can moreover be rendered deformable for example by means of a supplementary ball and socket joint arranged at 1", without their stability being impaired. The two anchor supports P P at the ends of the section, may be of the same type as the intermediate supports but possess, in this case, their own stability owing to the ropes h which connect said supports 1 P with the ground in the direction of the lin If the hereinbefore described constructional forms comprise the use of tie rods or cables, it will be obviously feasible withoutdeparting from the invention to utilize the current method of construction of metallic towers formed of rigid elements which are connected together either directly or by means of joints. The latter may be constructed in the same manner as the analogous elements employed in metallic bridges, or by means of rollers travelling upon roller races of adequate form, or by means of links, shackles or the like, determining between the parts which they connect virtual axes or instantaneous centres of rotation, suitably disposed according to the known rules of kinetics, so as to bring about an accordance between the desired stability and the obtainment of the adequate additional de gree of freedom to move.

Claims:

1. An intermediate supporting frame structure for electric transmission lines capable of supporting the lines and of withstanding transverse stresses comprising rigid uprights, foundations therefor, n ans connectingsaid uprights with said foundations whereby the uprights are free to pivot about an axis perpendicular to said lines, and rigid cross pieces connecting adjacent pairs of upri 'hts, said cross pieces being adapted to carry the transmission lines.

2. A intermediate supporting frame structure for electric t ansmission lines capable of supporting toe lines and of withstanding transverse stresses comprising rigid uprights, foundiuions therefor, flexible joints connecting said uprights to said foundations whereby the uprights are free to pivot about axis perpendicular to the lines and rigid cross pieces disposed on said upri ts, s id cross pieces being adapted to carry the tran ssion lines.

8. An intermediate supporting frame structure electric tr nission lines ca pable of supporting the .es and of withstanding transverse stresses comprising a i c of rig-lid upi glits, foundations for said lits, ball and socket joints connecting L uprights at their lower extremities with fouir ations, and a ri id cross piece conuppe: extren'nties of said upsalt. cross piece being adapted to earl the transmission lines.

4;. An in rmediate supporting frame structure for elect t ric transmission lines casupporting the and of with- .nding tr- -sverse stresses comprising a d uprights, foundations for said uprl; ts. and socket joints connecting said uprights at their lower extremities with said foun lotions, 1 id cross piece connecting the upper QXLl'ellllLlCS of said uprights, piece being adapted to carry the on lines and plurality of tie rods 7 .onnecting tl e upper and lower the uprights in order to stii'le,

=es or intermediaie :3. An structure for electric transmission lin pable of supporting the lines and of withsupporting; frame Cil- -g transverse stresses comprising a uprights, foundations for said and socket joints connecting at their lower extremities with rigid cross piece connectins: the upper einities of said uprights, said cross piece being adapted to carry the transmission lines, a plurality of tie rods diagonally connecting the upper and lower extremities of the uprights in order to stiffen the same and a bar disposed between the diagonal tie rods at the intersection thereof. 6. An intermediate supporting frame for electric transmission lines capable of supporting the lines and of withstanding transverse stresses, comprising rigid uprights free to pivot about an axis substantially at right angle with the line, rigid cross pieces connected to said uprights by means of at least one joint, which confers to the frame structure at least one internal degree of freedom lfli) to move, said cross pieces being adapted to carry the transmission lines which in turn maintain by virtue of ther Weight, the Whole structure in stable equilibrium.

7. In an electric line comprising station ary supports to which the line Wires are at--- tached, and intermed supports whereby the said line Wires W11 be supported at points between, the said tationary reports an intermediate support eoinprisi two rigri d portions no of which 1 oted with reference to the ground axis which is substantiaiiy horizontal an at right angles to the electrc the other may osciiiate with i the first-mentioned portion abou and insuiators adapted said second portion upon the said line Wires.

o. The combination of station is, supports place i s 1t intermediate etween the said stationary sup i rie line Wires attach to the mic upports, and means conn 0 said intermediate supports. each or iii e er being freely pivo ed on its base and daptec for free disti ate supports being held uprig '5 so action of gravity upon the said ii 9. The combination of stationary su of intermediate suoports placed at liliteli'fli etween the said stationary supper intermediate support comprising rigid oiinents which rest upon the ground by means of bottom joints and are connected together at the top by at least one joint, said top and bottom joints being so disposed t whole support will be pivoted on at least axis pi-ssi through the said bottom joints and that said support will be subiect about a second axis independent of t cedingr, said axis passing through. one of the said bottom joints a top joint ii tors mounted on the said supports and supports being ueid 1111i efforts which the i gravity, u'iii impart In testimony hat 1 my invsition, I i eve 1'.

GEORGES 

